Inside Lane | High School Track Blog Week 10

State over, but Combined Events on tap

The 43rd annual Washington State Combined Events meet are taking place this weekend, Friday and Saturday at Lake Stevens High.

For those attuned to the WIAA state meet being the conclusion to the high school track year, you may be unfamiliar with the Combined Events competition. This meet, the longest-running of its kind in the country according to meet director Chris Mattingly, gives high school boys and girls an outlet to compete in decathlon and heptathlon. The girls also have a decathlon.

Among those expected to be competing this weekend is Holy Names’ Olivia Vincent. Vincent had a disappointing Star Track after a collision in her preliminary heat of the 110 hurdles caused a slight leg injury that bothered her the rest of the weekend.

Vincent won neither of the hurdling events in 3A despite being the state leader in both events entering the state meet.

This weekend, she comes in as the reigning Junior Olympic National Champion in the heptathlon (a combined seven-discipline event). Vincent will see 2A star Brooke Feldmeier of Tumwater, ranked eighth nationally in 2013.

On the boys side, north end competitors Jared Alskog of Arlington and Andrew Stitch of Lakewood have a short commute to get to the venue.

Did Joyner’s injury affect outcome?

The state meets are history.

In 3A, the Bellevue boys and Kamiakin girls accomplished three-peats – each won its third consecutive state team titles.

For the Wolverines, the victory came a week after they lost handily to Nathan Hale at the Sea-King District meet. At state, Bellevue turned the scoring around with a 73-59 victory over the runner-up Raiders.

Sprinter Budda Baker won the 100 and 200 meters races on Saturday afternoon, scoring 20 points for the Wolverines.

Baker, though, had only the third-fastest qualifying time in the 100. The top spot in that event was Austin Joyner’s. The junior from Marysville-Pilchuck went 10.80 on Friday morning during the prelims.

Joyner had the fastest times in both the 100 and 200 coming into state. But during his prelim heat later on Friday, Joyner injured his right hamstring for the second consecutive season at state.

While he hobbled down the track on one leg to score the single point for finishing eighth for the Tomahawks in the 100, he wasn’t a factor in either final. But he wanted to run.

“I earned the chance to be here,” Joyner said.

Just consider for a second if Joyner hadn’t been hurt and had won both event finals. The maximum Baker could have scored in the two races would have been 16 points. And Isaiah Gilchrist’s fifth-place finish in the 100 would have been no better than a sixth, costing Bellevue another point.

Yes, the difference only adds up to five points. The Wolverines still, all else being equal, would have won by nine. But who knows what could have happened.

In addition for Joyner, the Tomahawks started their summer football workout program this week. A year ago, the injury cost Joyner four months as he healed.